Lilja Ósk Snorradóttir, president of Pegasus Pictures, says the weakening of the crown is helping overseas film studios to produce their footage in Iceland. In addition, the spread of the coronavirus had a big impact on planned projects and had an impact on demand.
As Iceland seemed to have mastered the pandemic in the summer, interest in making films grew. However, since the second wave of the disease in late July, inquiries from film studios have declined.
“Currently, we mainly deal with larger projects related to television and film” explains Lilja Osk. “It seems that producers of commercials, music videos and smaller productions cannot travel right now.”
The Pegasus film company was founded over 30 years ago and employs around 130 people. The company’s many projects in recent years include the production of episodes of the popular series Game of Thrones, the series Fortitude and many commercials.
In an interview with journalists, Lilja Ósk said that the company is currently involved in several projects with foreign film studios. She also added that she could not reveal anything more about these actions.
In addition, the company is working on the production of two Icelandic films – one of them is based on novels Jón Kalman Stefansson “Summer Light” and “Then comes night”and the other is a comedy thriller.
Lilja emphasizes that the value of the crown always influences the demand.
“In my opinion, the country has a strong competitive position” states. “We can offer popular movie locations, but fluctuations in the value of the crown can prove quite difficult in our industry. We have the advantage right now because everything is closed in Los Angeles. The filmmakers look at us and see that they can work here … Filming has also started in Europe, and when it comes to what the continent has to offer, we are competing with greater returns and a more stable currency. “
She also said that TV viewership increased significantly during the epidemic and therefore it is easy to finance the production. Independent producers find it harder to finance films in these unusual circumstances, however.
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Source: Yle
